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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Hakka Yam Abacus 客家算盘子, and Happy Mid-Autumn Festival !

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, is a day for family reunion. Thus I would like to present this Hakka Yam Abacus to you as round yam abacus also represent reunion 团圆 and bring good prosperity especially for Hakka Chinese peoples who must have this dish during Chinese New Year.

Don't know since when, my mother started to cook yam abacus during CNY as she said abacus is a Chinese calculator, like non stop counting money, LOL. Anyway, her version is Hokkien version, which look black as you know Hokkien dishes always like to season with dark caramel soy sauce for the dish to look black (that means it will taste Ho Chiak )

But I did not cook Hokkien way this time, I followed Hakka way, I got it inspired from this article I read in a Chinese newspaper.

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The other day, my sister brought to me a good home grown yam from her in law house. I immediately use it to cook this Hakka Yam Abacus. I prefer more yam taste, so you can see my recipe is using less flour.

I can't find the Hakka type of yellow firm tofu from the market, thus I replaced with this five spices tofu.

Hakka Yam Abacus 客家算盘子

(recipe source: by Sonia
aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

*serves 5

For yam abacus

600g yam, cubed

100g tapioca flour

100g hot water

Method

Steam
the yam till soft, mash finely while hot.

While yam still hot, add
in tapioca flour and water, and knead till a pliable dough ( difference type of yam has difference texture, please adjust water and flour accordingly).

Roll
into long log and cut into small chunks.

Roll
the chunks in between your palms and roll round into balls.

Use
your index finger to make a indentation in the middle.

Bring
a pot of water to rolling boil. Drop in yam abacus balls and cook till it
floats.

Drain
away hot water and rinse with cold tap water. Drizzle over some cooking
oil to coat it evenly. Set aside.

If
you are not intend to use it immediately, put into a zip lock bag and store in
the freezer.

I use the leftover lotus paste to shape few bear bear mooncake ^_^
. Skin recipe using old recipe here, add charcoal powder into dough for eyes and nose. 1tsp spoon to shape nose area, and use toothpick to shape the mouth and ear.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you and your family Sonia, true!LOVE your mooncakes and never heard of your dish before, so thank you for allowing me to learn something new! Cheers! Joanne@mickeydownunder

Hai sis, Iam lavi, Iam learning baking through ur blog,ur works are amazing, Iam planning to bake a Minnie mouse cake for my daughter's 3 rd birthday, can u please suggest me a icing receipe which can withstand this hot weather, thank u once again for ur wonderful guidance for each receipe with love and care